Russia's Lavrov also cited US Secretary of State John Kerry, who earlier said Iran must play an important role in finding a solution to settle the Syrian crisis.
A turmoil erupted after Iran was invited Sunday to the meeting in Montreux, Switzerland, scheduled for Jan 22. The main Syrian opposition group, which earlier decided to participate, threatened to pull out of the conference shortly after Iran was invited to participate in the meeting.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon later said the meet would proceed without Iran despite his earlier invitation to the country, saying Tehran had failed to confirm its adherence to the Geneva I communique.
For months, UN, US and Russian diplomats have struggled to persuade both the Syrian regime and rebels opposed to it to attend the conference.
The Russian foreign minister said Iran's absence at the Geneva II conference would not facilitate defeating terrorism in the Muslim world, nor provide unity of the Muslim world.
"Terrorism is a threat to us all, Muslims including," Lavrov said, adding Moscow had consistently warned of the danger of a split in the Muslim world, which would bring about catastrophic consequences.
Lavrov said Russia was trying its best to "promote political settlement" of the Syrian crisis.
"We are satisfied with the fact that reasonable approaches based on the logic of peace and basic principles of international law prevailed," he said, adding Russia was against unilateral actions, including attempts to use force bypassing the UN Charter.
Updated on: January 21, 2014 17:16 IST
